Global review of circular economy and life cycle thinking in building Demolition Waste Management: A way ahead for India

Management of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste from buildings has become essential to ensure sus-tainable infrastructural growth across the globe. The major proportion of C&D waste comprises of debris generated from the demolition activities, and their inadequate management can lead to disruption of natural resource cycles. Hence, there is a need to develop a holistic understanding of Demolition Waste Management (DWM) to reduce the building sector's impact on resources. Through a systematic literature review of 148 original journal articles, conference proceedings, and recent review papers (between the period 2000 to 2022) extracted from a scientific database, this study has identified 33 major global strategies for DWM guided by the Circular Economy (CE) framework through a perspective of the building lifecycle. A few of the strategies identified in this review are standardization of building components, incentivization of innovation, extended producer's responsibility, pre-demolition survey and audits, blockchain technology. Furthermore, the way ahead for the DWM in the Indian construction industry is assessed, and ten major challenges in CE implementation in India are discussed. The corrective actions are proposed against each challenge, and the extent of effort required for implementation with the impact created from each measure is also highlighted in this study. The review findings are valuable for both academicians and practitioners while establishing guidelines or framing policies during any stage of construction. The life cycle perspective of DWM proposed in this paper also attempts to chart a roadmap to reach various sustainable development goals.

Automated summary

Management of construction and demolition waste is crucial for sustainable infrastructure growth worldwide. This study identifies 33 major global strategies for demolition waste management and assesses the future development and challenges faced by the Indian construction industry in implementing circular economy principles.